Bishop Arts District’s Make teaches hip Do-It-Yourself crafts

by Catherine Cuellar

OAK CLIFF — Julie McCullough Kim brings punk D.I.Y. sensibility to domestic life. Her Bishop Arts District boutique and community studio, Make, sells handmade accessories, clothing, and gifts all created locally, and offers classes throughout each week like printmaking, glass etching, and knitting. Among fellow participants who filled an "intro to sewing" class Friday night were a doctor, two attorneys, and a mother bonding with her daughter -- a Texas Woman's University student visiting from Denton.

As students arrived, they complimented each other's cute outfits. Our instructor Kimber warned that no perfectionist Type A students would last. After selecting fabric, we started learning the names and functions of our sewing machines' various parts. While the $50 enrollment fee covered the cost of all materials and supplies, students who bring their own sewing machines (which can cost less than $100) can have their instruction tailored (pun intended) to their equipment.

The stress of threading a needle had me ready for a cocktail, but I refrained to practice sewing straight and curved lines on scraps of fabric before diving into the night's main project...a handbag large enough to hold a laptop. Kimber compared the pedal controlling my machine's speed to giving a car gas, and the places where straps connected to the bag were speedbumps. Fortunately all my sloppy seams were hidden from view once the bag was turned right-side-out.

Make is the local outpost in a national hipster craft movement. McCullough-Kim says "Sewing is a skill not a talent; anyone can learn." Her store first opened in Uptown, where some window shoppers didn't understand the appeal. "Couture's not for everyone," McCullough-Kim says. But for a growing number of professionals, classes like those offered throughout the week at Make offer a healthy creative outlet and a way to meet people outside of work or a bar. Nine of the 10 students in this class were women, three of whom were planning an outing to attend roller derby by night's end.

For those who have learned the basics but want more practice or are not yet ready to invest in their own equipment, Make also offers "open sewing" during First Thursdays each month, allowing first-come, first-served drop-in rental of sewing machine work stations from 5 to 10pm, with staff on-hand to offer guidance.